From Silence to Action: Theresa Flores on The SOAP Project and Surviving Trafficking

She was 15, going to school during the day, and getting trafficked at night while still living at home. That reality is what drives Theresa Flores, a human trafficking survivor and the founder of The SOAP Project, to keep pushing for prevention that actually reaches people where trafficking hides in plain sight.

We talk through Theresa’s personal journey, including why “typical” kids can be targeted and how low self-esteem, frequent moves, and the need to belong can become vulnerabilities traffickers exploit. Then we shift to what’s changed today: the internet, social media, and the rise of sextortion. Theresa explains how blackmail can start with a single message or photo and spiral into fear, isolation, and serious mental health pressure for teens who already feel like no one is listening.

You’ll also hear how The SOAP Project turns awareness into action through community outreach that’s simple but powerful: volunteers label bars of soap with the National Human Trafficking Hotline number, deliver them to hotels and motels, and educate staff on trafficking signs. We dig into why hotels are a key intervention point, plus what survivor support can look like in real life, from retreats for male and female survivors to emergency help and major dental assistance.

If you care about human trafficking prevention, protecting children, and building safer communities, listen through and share this with someone who works with teens or travelers. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what your community could do next to make exploitation harder and help survivors heal.

To learn more about The SOAP Project visit:
https://www.SOAPProject.org
The SOAP Project 
803-566-SOAP (7627) 

Transcript

Why Awareness Must Become Action

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Soap Project Show with Teresa Flores, where awareness leads to action and communities unite to protect our children. Hosted by human trafficking survivor and founder Teresa Flores, this podcast shines a light on one of society's darkest crimes while equipping individuals, organizations, and communities with the knowledge and tools to help prevent human trafficking. Together, we can make a difference.

Teresa’s Path To SOAP

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Teresa, thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

So you're a nationally recognized author, educator, and advocate. However, some listeners might not be familiar with your full journey. Could you share a little bit about yourself and your path to the foundation of SOAP?

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Sure.

Trafficked At 15 While At Home

SPEAKER_02 1:19

So, you know, I grew up just a normal all-American Midwest kid and uh two parents, um, you know, nothing bad ever happening to me. And and you wouldn't think that I would have been a person like me would have been uh vulnerable and and been led to being trafficked, right? You know, we think of trafficking as other countries, uh maybe big cities, immigrants, um, but I was vulnerable. Every kid is vulnerable to it happening, um, and just made some actually kind of wrong decisions um that I had no idea um what was going to lead out of that, and ended up becoming trafficked um at 15 years of age. Um, but what makes my story a little bit unique is that I actually got to live at home while I was being trafficked. So I went to school during the day. Um and then they were uh some of them were planted in my school, went there, uh were trafficking me during school, after school, and then calling me um my house in the middle of the night to meet them. Um so for two years I was leading on what I was guess I'd say a double life. Uh and I just had nobody to trust, nobody to talk to, nobody to to help me, no knight in shining armor to rescue me out of that. Um, but people saw signs, and and that's what's sad about it, is that people saw a kid in trouble and yet they did nothing. And uh so it was really a miracle that my family got transferred and we moved a really far away, um, the beginning of my senior year of school. Um and that's what saved me really um was getting out of there, like physically moving. Um, but then it took many years of uh trying to forget that, trying to just bury it down to survive every day. Um, I went to college and ended up getting married and having three kids. And then, of course, as everything does, it surfaced again. Um when I was getting divorced, um going through a pretty hard time. And I went to a conference and I learned about human trafficking as a social worker for my career. And at that same moment I realized, oh my gosh, this is me. Like this was what happened to me. This is what it's called. Um, and that's what started my whole path um almost 20 years ago on this path to try to raise awareness about it to others because I also realized that what happened to me maybe have been was like pretty rare back then, right? Now we have internet and cell phones and um and the sexuation of our society is rampant. And now it's a an epidemic. This is a silent epidemic, the second leading crime in the United States. So I realized at that moment there were a lot more trees out there, and I refuse to let this happen to another young teenager.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Well, I'm so sorry that happened to you, and thank you for what you do. I did have a question. So I mean, at such an you must have, you know, that's such a vulnerable age. Yeah. Did you feel like shut down and it was hard to communicate with the adults around you? What was going on?

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Or yeah, like most 15-year-olds, and see we moved every two years, so I didn't have great self-esteem. You know, I was shy, I would say, starved for attention, trying to fit in, always the new kid. So yeah, I wasn't that like bubbly kid that would go up to any adult and talk to them, you know, especially in a situation like this.

Sextortion And Today’s Teen Risk

SPEAKER_01 4:56

And then, you know, like you just mentioned today, with the access that adults have to kids and and vice versa, with the internet and social media and everything you just mentioned, um, how much more vulnerable do you think the kids are right now?

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Oh, uh unbelievably. Um, sextortion, which we'll we'll talk about later, um, is the number one threat to teenagers today. And that's where kids are being um convinced to upload photos, you know, that are um sexual photos, and then they're being blackmailed um for those photos. Um, they're being made to do things, send money, things like that. Um, what happened to me was in a very, very early form of that before cell phones even existed. So now this is the number one threat to teenagers, and that leads to mental health ill um uh challenges um for kids as well. Um, and just you know that fact that like nobody's looking, nobody's listening to me, nobody cares. So so those are because some of the things that uh I really want to address.

Mobilizing Communities Through Hotels

SPEAKER_01 6:03

And how does your organization support survivors and protect communities?

SPEAKER_02 6:08

That's my favorite part. Um, protecting communities is a little different. Uh, we mobilize communities to take action. So I want those teachers, I want those neighbors, I want the church people sitting in the pews with those kids, I want them there at these events. Um, they get to label bars of soap with the national hotline number on them, they get educated on what are the signs. Um, and then we um to have them go to hotels and motels to deliver these items to educate the staff at hotels and motels because we know that 80% of all trafficking in the United States is happening at hotels and motels. I was actually left for dead at a motel, and so that's why I'm really passionate about that. Um, so that's one of the things that we do. Um, and then my favorite part is uh really helping to lift up survivors. I went um over 20 years without any real help, without any counseling, uh, just struggled, you know. And I want to make that path a little easier for survivors than it was for me. So uh we give retreats for male survivors. We're one of the only ones to do that, and then female survivors. Um, we have a dental program. I just had two survivors, um, gosh, I'm so excited, apply for massive dental assistance um from us because of what happened to them while they were trafficked. Uh, and then uh we do emergency services, so we try to pour into survivors as much as we can.

Partnering With SOAP To Help Survivors

SPEAKER_01 7:44

And you know, you mentioned the hotels, and I I know that your organization works very closely with a lot of org um, you know, different uh companies and um does a lot of community outreach. Could you expand on that? And then if an organization wants to work with you, how do they do that?

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Yeah, so um we like to partner with local organizations, churches, civic groups, clubs, church uh schools uh to be able to help us. This is really mobilizing the communities. Like we can't just go in with my little team and do this. Like we need the local people to do it. We usually do it around a big sporting event or a big event that's coming to their town because we know traffickers are coming to your town if there's an event coming that's bringing in, especially men who are mostly our buyers, right? And so um people can contact us and if they want to partner, if they want to just buy a case of soap and sit around with some of their staff or their church members or their school, and they can label, they can label those bars of soap, and we actually give out makeup remover wipes to kind of higher-end hotels, and they can do that and then pass it on to one of our local chapters. That really helps a lot. Um, or we know we're always looking for partners to help us with retreats, um, funding for these uh dental programs. The dental program is um, I mean, most of these survivors need about $30,000 worth of work for one person, one person. So um, yeah, so we're there's lots of ways that people can partner with us.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

And I know in the upcoming episodes, we're going to talk about a lot of the methodology your organization uses and and ways that you help with prevention, yeah, along with education.

Self-Care In Heavy Work

SPEAKER_01 9:32

But on a on a lighter note for you, a more fun question, because you're covering such a serious issue. And again, thank you for what you do. So when you're not immersed in this incredibly important work, what brings you joy or helps you recharge, have a little fun?

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Oh gosh. Um, lots of things really. Um, I I take pride in my self-care because I just I have to to do this work, right? Um, I just love taking great baths, I get massages every month. Um, my husband and I play competitive bocci, which is a little different, especially for maybe people in Ohio that aren't Italian. Um I play bocce like two to three times a week, actually. Um and then you know, spending time with my kids and my grandkids. Um, so I I um I what we do a lot of we're we're very busy, and so I I try to find that good balance, right, between family, home, and then and then work.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Well, Teresa, thank you for you know all this responsibility you're carrying and the compassion and your your mission that you're sharing with

What Keeps Teresa Going

SPEAKER_01 10:36

others. Um the last question we have for you is what keeps you going?

SPEAKER_02 10:41

This work. Really, really this work. Um when I go to do a speaking event um at a church or somewhere and I ask the audience, like, how many of you know that this is the second leading crime? How how many of you know about trafficking? And only like two or three raise their hand every single time. And I've been doing this 20 years. Um that's what it makes me sad, right? But it motivates me to keep me going because there's still so many people out there um that don't know anything about this. Um and there's so many kids that come up to me and say, Miss Flores, you know, I need to talk to you. And and that's and I know instantly. Or a woman will come up to me and hug me and just say, Thank you for doing this. I I can't, I couldn't, I can't do this. And and I know, you know, so there's so many of us with a story that they're maybe they're not able to share that. And so that motivates me to keep me going.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Well, you know, thanks again, and we're looking forward to seeing you in the next episodes and learning a lot more about your mission. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Thank you so much.

How To Volunteer And Donate

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Thank you for listening to the Soap Project Show with Teresa Flores. Human trafficking thrives in silence, but hope begins with awareness. Every conversation you share, every volunteer who steps forward, and every donation made helps protect children, support survivors, and mobilize communities to take action. To volunteer, donate, or learn how you can make a difference. Visit soapproject.org or email info at soapproject.org. The Soap Project, mobilizing communities to help end human trafficking, because every child deserves a future free from exploitation.